Drink-Driving Serie A Footballer Crashes Merc

On-loan Sampdoria striker Gregoire Defrel has crashed his Mercedes into a railing at high-speed and cops have reportedly found he was drink-driving at the time.

Reports state Defrel, currently on loan at Sampdoria from Claudio Ranieri’s Roma, was driving his 500-horsepower Mercedes C63 S AMG on the Corso Europa main road in the northern Italian state of Genova when he crashed.

Local media had initially reported the French striker had crashed after evading a police control but Sampdoria have denied this in a statement.

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The club state that police only attended the scene after the 27-year-old had crashed and images show the damage done to his Mercedes.

The front of the vehicle is seriously damaged and the front-left wheel appears to have gone missing in the collision with a railing. Both airbags appear to have been deployed.

A blood-alcohol test reportedly showed that Defrel was over the legal limit and reports state his driving licence was taken off him by the officers. Local media report Sampdoria have not denied the player failed the blood alcohol test given after the crash.

Reports state the forward and his girlfriend, who was a passenger in the car, were unharmed.

Sampdoria will reportedly fine the forward for the incident which came after he played the last six minutes of the side’s 2-1 loss to Atalanta.

He is currently on loan from Roma, where he scored just one goal in 20 appearances last season. He has scored seven goals in 29 matches for Sampdoria this season.